Why we keep coming back to the Rotary Cancer Run

By Allen Ssempa

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. That old African proverb has endured because it speaks to how lasting change happens. Rarely through one grand gesture, but through people showing up, together, repeatedly.

That is probably the best way to explain why Maad McCann has partnered with the Rotary Cancer Run for so many years.

Every year, our team joins thousands of Ugandans in solidarity against one of the country's most devastating health challenges.

Like many cities around the world, Kampala hosts its fair share of charity walks, fundraising dinners and community runs, each championing a worthy cause. It's easy to look at the Rotary Cancer Run and assume it's just another event on an already busy calendar. But that assumption doesn't last long once you experience it.

Yes, it began as a fundraising run twelve years ago, but it has since grown into an enduring public health initiative, gathering corporate organizations, individuals, families, schools, businesses and institutions behind a shared purpose. It is a collective pledge to improve cancer care, support patients, expand treatment infrastructure and prove that when thousands of people contribute in small ways, the impact is anything but ordinary.

Our partnership with Rotary Cancer Run has never been about ticking a corporate responsibility box. It has endured because, like many Ugandan organizations, we are made up of people whose lives have been touched by cancer. We've had colleagues support parents through treatment, friends rally around loved ones, and families face the uncertainty that comes with a diagnosis. The cause isn't distant to us, it sits closer to home than we'd like.

According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer's Global Cancer Observatory, Uganda records about 36,000 new cancer cases every year, while nearly 25,000 people die from the disease annually.

Rotary Cancer Run gives all of us a practical way to respond.

The Run has helped deliver a dedicated cancer ward at St. Francis Hospital Nsambya, expand its bed capacity, equip the facility with specialized medical equipment through Rotary Global Grants, and support the ongoing construction of a fully-fledged cancer treatment centre. Along the way, more than 250,000 people have taken part, approximately UGX 5 billion has been raised, and the campaign has reached communities across Uganda with a simple but important message: cancer is a fight that belongs to all of us.

That is why the Rotary Cancer Run continues to matter. It offers all of us the opportunity to be part of something whose impact extends well beyond race day.

At Maad McCann, we'll be there again this year, as we have been for many years, because the reason we joined still exists. We hope many more organizations and Ugandans will stand with us to continue building something that has already proven its worth.

Head PR, Maad McCann